Scharlin v. Superior Court

Opinion

MOORE, J.

Joseph Scharlin filed a petition for a writ of mandate seeking to vacate respondent superior court’s order finding his proposed challenge to the validity of an amendment to a trust would violate the no contest clauses of both the original trust agreement and the amendment. We issued an alternative writ and granted a hearing to determine whether a beneficiary under the decedent’s trust of a joint estate plan forfeits his or her interest by challenging the validity of an amendment to the survivor’s trust under that estate plan. We conclude the writ should be granted.

Facts

In July…